


welcome to your world, my girl

by luladannys



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, Liz centric, Post-Hoco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 05:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11822496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luladannys/pseuds/luladannys
Summary: A few months after the homecoming dance, or as Liz calls it, the Worst Night Ever, she discovers that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one in the same, which clears things up and makes them more confusing all at the same time. Perhaps that's just the way her life is going to be from now on.





	welcome to your world, my girl

A few weeks after she and her mother have moved to Oregon, Liz came to realize that she really wasn’t mad at Peter like she had thought she was. It had been easy to take out her hurt and confusion regarding everything that had happened with her father out on him. After all, Peter ditching her at the dance had been the first in a series of events she now referred to as the Worst Night Ever.

Liz’s high school career had always been a constant battle to be seen as more than just pretty. She went to a STEM school, for crying out loud, and people were still always surprised to find she had a brain between her pierced ears. So if there was one thing Liz hated, it was feeling dumb, which was exactly how she felt as Peter Parker ran out of the gymnasium and left her alone at the homecoming dance.

She knew people had been whispering about her after she had agreed to go with Peter. After all, she was a senior and he was a sophomore. Admittedly, it was kind weird, but Peter was sweet and not full of himself and, well, Liz knew it must have taken a lot of courage on his part to even ask her. She had been looking forward to enjoying the dance she had spent weeks planning with someone who would make it fun.

But Peter left and if she thought the whispers about her going to the dance with a sophomore were bad, the ones about her being ditched by a sophomore were even worse. Betty and Cindy made attempts to salvage the night for her, but, surprisingly, the only person who actually made her feel better was Michelle, who simply stood by her silently for most of the dance. The only thing she had said was, “Sorry Parker sucks. Pretty cool shindig you planned, though.”

Her friends invited her out with them after, but Liz asked them to just take her home. All she wanted was to eat ice cream and watch some bad TV with her mom. Instead, what she got was a fleet of vehicles from various government agencies filling up her street.

At first, she takes it all out on Peter because it was easier to be mad at him than at her father. It takes time to come to terms with the fact that he is a bad man, but still her father. The conclusion that she eventually comes to is that her dad must have said something really scary to Peter, something far worse than the usual “you better take good care of my daughter” stuff that dads say. Peter had been acting weird starting at her house and after a few minutes alone in the car with her dad, he ran off. He had seemed truly apologetic about it, too. Maybe her dad had threatened to break his legs or kill him or something. Liz shudders at the thought.

She thought about contacting him, somehow, to say she was sorry for how she had treated him and for whatever it was her father had done or said to him. She wasn’t supposed to really be talking to anyone from her old life right now, though, for her own safety. She and her mother had gotten new phone numbers and she had only been allowed to give it out to three of her friends back in New York. Liz contemplates DMing him through Instagram or something, but it just doesn’t feel like the proper way to go about it. She settles for the fact that one day the dust from her father’s trial will settle and she will be able to get a hold of Peter after that.

* * *

One day in January, Liz is driving home from school on a winding, snowy road, surrounded by trees on either side. It only has one lane in each direction. She’s been alone for miles, but then two large trucks pull out of a service road behind her.

One swerves around her and cuts her off.

“Asshole,” Liz mutters as she adjusts her speed to avoid rear-ending the driver.

She then notices that the second truck is coming up on her side. She starts to panic and fumbles for her cellphone, which is in the zippered front pocket of her backpack and _oh, God_ , why has she always insisted on being a responsible young driver and keeping it put away? As she unzips the pocket and grabs the phone with one hand, the other alone on the wheel, she glances in her rearview mirror and sees a third truck approaching her from behind very quickly. Too quickly.

It slams into her and sends her backpack and cellphone to the floorboard. Liz’s seatbelt keeps her from flying forward into the steering wheel and she reacts quickly, hitting the brake full force to avoid hitting the truck that is in front of her. She gets hit from behind again. The truck on her side is now up against her, forcing her car off the side of the road.

Liz struggles to release her seatbelt. Terror is pumping through her blood and she hardly has control over her own body. If she can get this undone, the only option she really has is to climb out the passenger side and run into the woods. What kind of chance does she, a seventeen year old girl, have against three guys in massive trucks, though?

Finally, she manages to push in the red button and the seat belt retracts. Liz starts to crawl over the center console and screams as her driver side window is smashed open, bracing her head against the shower of glass. A hand grabs one of her ankles and she kicks desperately with her other foot. She reaches and pulls the handle for the passenger door, then tries to pull herself out against the power of the man trying to yank her through the broken window.

Something lands on the top of her car with a _thump_ , causing a slight dent. Her attacker makes a strange noise, almost like a yelp, and suddenly her leg is released. Liz scrambles out the open door, falling onto the snowy ground on the other side, and watches as her attacker soars overhead into the trees.

“Hey.”

She looks up to see a familiar red face with large eyes peering down at her from the roof of her car.

_Spider-Man._

“You okay?”

Liz can’t speak. She just nods.

“Just wait here. I’ll be right back. It’s gonna be okay.”

He jumps off the car and all she can hear is various sounds – _bang_ s and _thwip_ s and shouts. She does as she’s told and stays crouched down next to the side of her car. After a few moments, Spider-Man returns. Liz can feel herself shaking from a combination of the cold and the fear. He seems to sense it and approaches her slowly.

“I know you’re scared, but it’s over now. I need to get you out of here, okay?”

He extends a hand out to her and she stares at it for a brief moment before grabbing it with one of her own. Spider-Man pulls her to her feet, but does not let go of her hand.

“You’re freezing,” he says. “Here, give me your other one, too.”

She lets him take hold of her other hand as well and then a burst of warmth floods through her freezing fingers and throughout her whole body.

“The suit has a heater. Pretty cool, right?”

Liz nods and pulls her hands back, wrapping her arms around her body to try to preserve the warmth.

“We gotta go now, Liz, okay? I’m gonna take you somewhere safe. Your mom is gonna be there, too. A friend of mine is bringing her.”

So this wasn’t some random attack. She was targeted.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she says, finally able to speak. All she wants is to see her mom, to make sure that she is okay.

“You’re gonna have to hold onto me,” Spider-Man says. “And I’m warning you right now, I’m not as good at maneuvering through these trees as I am through the city.”

He’s not wrong. Their journey through the woods is not the smoothest trip she’s ever been on, but to Spider-Man’s credit, he makes sure he takes all the hits when they swing into trees instead of her. Finally, they reach a cabin. There’s a Jeep parked outside and light visible through the window curtains.

Spider-Man carefully sets her down and then knocks on the door in a way that must be code. The front door opens to reveal a woman with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. She steps aside to let them in. Liz hesitates, but Spider-Man nudges her forward gently.

“Widow isn’t back yet, but they are en route,” the woman tells Spider-Man as she closes the door behind them. She sits down at the dining table, where there are various devices and a gun laying out.

“You mean _Black Widow_?” Liz questions. “My mom is with _Black Widow_?”

Spider-Man nods.

“I… How did you even know to come here and find us? What is happening? Who were those guys who ran me off the road?”

Liz’s head is swimming, too many questions coming to the surface at once. Spider-Man places a hand on her elbow and leads her over to the couch that is facing the unlit fireplace.

“Your dad contacted me and told me you were in danger.”

_“What?”_

Why didn’t anything in her life make sense anymore? Spider-Man and her father were supposed to be enemies. What were they…penpals now? Allies? Liz drops her head into her hands, but finds herself too stressed out to even cry.

After a moment, she looks up to find Spider-Man sitting on the edge of the small table in front of her. He’s silent, just looking at her.

“You saved me in Washington, DC. Do you remember that?” she asks.

Spider-Man nods.

“Did you know then? That I was…,” she pauses. She hates the name they call her father. She can’t bring herself to say it. “That I was _his_ daughter?”

“No.”

“But you know now. So…so why would you save me now? After what he did?”

Spider-Man sighs, then glances over at the woman sitting at the table on the other side of the room, who isn’t paying attention to them. He reaches up to the top of his head, grabs his mask between his fingers, and pulls it off.

 _“PETER?!”_ Liz exclaims in shock.

Now the woman looks over at them. She rolls her eyes.

“You know Stark made you that thing so you could keep your identity a _secret_ , right?”

Peter shrugs and drops the mask onto the table next to him.

Liz is just staring at him, mouth agape. She hadn’t thought it was possible, but things seem to make even less sense now than they did before. Liz is not typically one to have trouble with her words, but she sits there sputtering syllables for a moment before Peter takes pity on her and speaks.

“I know you’re confused,” he says. “The thing is, your dad and I don’t really agree on anything except for the fact that neither of us want anything bad to happen to you. He found out that someone was going to kidnap you and your mother to get information out of him and he got a hold of me.”

“Does my dad know…that you’re…?”

“Peter Parker? Yeah.”

“So that’s why… The dance…”

Peter nods. “I’m sorry, Liz.”

“No, Peter, _I’m_ sorry,” Liz says and grabs one of his gloved hands. “My dad tried to _kill_ you and then I said those things to you when I left.”

“Well, I still kinda deserved the things you said. I’ve been getting better at, you know, not disappearing all the time. I’ve been to almost all the decathlon meetings the last few months. When I do miss, MJ makes me run laps while she shouts questions at me, so that’s a pretty good motivator to make sure I don’t flake out.”

Liz smiles a little. She knows through Cindy, who is one of the people she’s stayed in contact with, that Michelle is the new team captain and that she lets them call her MJ now.

“MJ and I are actually kinda dating now,” Peter says, rubbing the back of his neck as his ears start tinting pink. “At least, I think we are.”

“You _think_ you are? What is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, she’s not the easiest person to understand.”

Liz nods. “That is true.”

“But we’ve kinda been out a few times. Whatever it is…it’s nice. And she knows about…,” he trails off, gesturing to the Spider-Man suit. “I didn’t have to tell her. She figured it out because, to use her words, _I’m an idiot who is awful at keeping secrets_.”

The woman at the table snorts.

“That’s great. I’m happy for you, Peter. For both of you.”

And she is. It’s just kind of crazy to think that Peter/Spider-Man’s life has become somewhat normal while hers has turned upside down.

The sound of snow crunching under tires as another car pulls up brings Liz to her feet. The dark-haired woman approaches the door with her gun drawn and peers through the front window. She tucks the gun into the back of her pants and opens the door to reveal Black Widow and Liz’s mom. The mother and daughter run into each other’s arms.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Black Widow says, looking at Peter. “You just can’t keep that mask on, can you?”

“His mentor is the guy who announced his secret identity at a press conference, what do you expect?” retorts the other woman whose name Liz still doesn’t know.

Liz’s mother looks up from her daughter and her eyes grow wide. Peter finds himself explaining again how he learned that they were in danger. She pulls him into a hug and thanks him for saving her and Liz’s lives.

Peter and Black Widow have to go shortly after, but the other woman (Maria Hill, Liz learns) stays behind to relocate them to a new place where they will be under protective guard. Once settled in their new home in New Mexico, Liz receives a message on her new phone from an unknown number.

It’s a video from Peter. It’s shaky because he’s running in the gymnasium.

“I told her I missed practice to save your life and she still won’t let me off the hook,” he says.

The video flips to the back camera and she sees MJ sitting on the bleachers with notecards balanced on her knees. Ned is sitting nearby, apparently working on homework.

“Define ‘oligarchy’,” MJ calls out.

“Say hi to Liz, guys!”

Ned looks up and he and MJ both wave to the camera. “Hi, Liz!”

The camera flips back to face Peter. “I hope you and your mom and doing okay. We have special security on our phones now, so it’s safe to text whenever you want.”

“Hey, slacker!” Liz hears MJ’s voice shout. “ _Ol-i-gar-chy!_ ”

“I gotta go or I’m gonna be running all night. Bye, Liz!”

He smiles and the video stops. Liz watches it again before texting Peter to let her know that she and her mom are doing just fine.

For the first time since the night of the homecoming dance, Liz feels like her life may just be on the right track to becoming normal again.

**Author's Note:**

> And so I continue inserting Maria Hill into my Hoco fics in any way possible because I am still salty that she wasn't in the movie.


End file.
